Code of the Lifemaker
After a twenty-first-century colony ship is mysteriously rerouted from its original destination, its crew becomes increasingly alarmed when their leaders, who know the truth, are unwilling to discuss the matter. Reissue.
After a twenty-first-century colony ship is mysteriously rerouted from its original destination, its crew becomes increasingly alarmed when their leaders, who know the truth, are unwilling to discuss the matter. Reissue.
Omnibus with two complete novels and a novella in one large volume. This collection shows Miles and Ekaterin meeting (Komarr), getting to know each other as Miles tries to court her (A Civil Campaign), and the wedding (Winterfair Gifts), and, of course, Miles dealing with assorted family relationships. Miles deals with political problems along the way plus recounts the loves of his life to Ekaterin. ...none of them would marry him; they all went on to lead successful lives--so unlike her life on Komarr. The last on his list was Rian: "And what does she do now?" ... "Now, She's an empress" ... "Can I take a number and get in line?" ... "The next number up", he breathed, "is one".
Contents:
Komarr: Miles Vorkosigan is sent to Komarr, a planet that could be a garden with a thousand more years of terraforming; or an uninhabitable wasteland, if the terraforming project fails. The solar mirror vital to the project has been shatteredby a ship hurtling off course, and Miles Vorkossigan has been sent to find out if it was an accident, or sabotage. Miles uncovers a plot that could exile him from Barrayar forever - and discovers an unexpected ally, one with wounds as deep and honor as beleaguered as his own.
A Civil Campaign: On Komarr, Miles met the beautiful Vor widow Ekaterin Vorsoisson, who has no intention of getting married after the heartbreak and betrayal of her first experience. But Miles has a cunning plan to change her mind. Unfortunately his clone-brother Mark and his cousin Ivan have cunning plans of their own, and the three-way collision of cunning plans threatens to undo Miles' brilliant romantic strategy.
"Winterfair Gifts": Miles and Ekaterin make elaborate preparations for their wedding. But Miles has an enemy who is plotting to turn the romantic ceremony into a festival of death.
The 21st century was drawing to a close, and metapsychic humankind was poised at last to achieve Unity to be admitted into the group mind of the already unified alien races of the Galactic Milieu. But a growing corps of rebels was plotting to keep the people of Earth forever separate in the name of human individuality. And the rebels had a secret supporter: Fury, the insane metapsychic creatrue that would stop at nothing to claim humanity for itself. Fury's greatest enemy was the mutant genius Jack the Bodiless, whose power it craved. But Jack would never be a tool for Fury . . .
And so it turned to Dorothea Macdonald, a young woman who had spent a lifetime hiding her towering mindpowers from the best mind readers of the Milieu. But she could not hide them from Fury or from Jack. Time and again she rejected their advances, unwilling to be drawn into the maelstrom of galactic politics or megalomaniacal dreams. And in the end, no one not Jack, not Fury, not even the Galactic Milieu would be a match for the awesome powers of the girl who would come to be called Diamond Mask . . .
ARTHUR C. CLARKE'S FAVORITE STORIES
THE NINE BILLION NAMES OF GOD -- A short-term course for computer the way to God.
TROUBLE WITH TIME -- Martian time proves that crimes doesn't pay!
NO MORNING AFTER -- Drink, drink and be merry, for tomorrow there will be no morning after...
THE POSSESSED -- Or, why the lemmings drowned.
ENCOUNTER AT DAWN -- The day the gods came to Earth.
THE SENTINEL -- The story which inspired 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY; when man sets off the galactic burglar alarm, who will answer the call?
"FASCINATING . . . May has cemented her position as one of this generation's foremost storytellers. . . .This satisfying end to a remarkable feat of the imagination is a necessary purchase."
--Library Journal
By the mid-twenty-first century, humanity is beginning to enjoy membership in the Galactic Milieu. Human colonies are thriving on numerous planets, life on Earth is peaceful and prosperous, and as more humans are being born with metapsychic abilities, it will not be long before these gifted minds at last achieve total Unity.
But xenophobia is deeply rooted in the human soul. A growing corps of rebels plots to keep the people of Earth forever separate, led by a man obsessed with human Marc Remillard. Marc's goal is nothing less than the elevation of human metapsychics above all others, by way of artificial enhancement of mental faculties. His methods are unpalatable, his goal horrific. And so Marc and his coconspirators continue their work in secret.
Only the very Unity he fears and abhors can foil Marc's plans. And only his brother, Jack the Bodiless, and the young woman called Diamond Mask can hope to lead the metaconcert to destroy Marc, Unify humanity, and pave the way for the Golden Age of the Galactic Milieu to begin . . .
"A CERTAIN CROWD-PLEASER."
--Kirkus Reviews
Mary Doria Russell's debut novel, The Sparrow, took us on a journey to a distant planet and into the center of the human soul. A critically acclaimed bestseller, The Sparrow was chosen as one of Entertainment Weekly's Ten Best Books of the Year, a finalist for the Book-of-the-Month Club's First Fiction Prize and the winner of the James M. Tiptree Memorial Award. Now, in Children of God, Russell further establishes herself as one of the most innovative, entertaining and philosophically provocative novelists writing today.
The only member of the original mission to the planet Rakhat to return to Earth, Father Emilio Sandoz has barely begun to recover from his ordeal when the Society of Jesus calls upon him for help in preparing for another mission to Alpha Centauri. Despite his objections and fear, he cannot escape his past or the future.
Old friends, new discoveries and difficult questions await Emilio as he struggles for inner peace and understanding in a moral universe whose boundaries now extend beyond the solar system and whose future lies with children born in a faraway place.
Strikingly original, richly plotted, replete with memorable characters and filled with humanity and humor, Children of God is an unforgettable and uplifting novel that is a potent successor to The Sparrow and a startlingly imaginative adventure for newcomers to Mary Doria Russell’s special literary magic.
THE COMPLETE ROBOT is the definitive anthology of Asimov's stunning visions of a robotic future…
In these stories, Isaac Asimov creates the Three Laws of Robotics and ushers in the Robot Age: when Earth is ruled by master-machines and when robots are more human than mankind.
Contents
9 • Introduction (The Complete Robot) • (1982) • essay by Isaac Asimov
15 • A Boy's Best Friend • (1975) • short story by Isaac Asimov
19 • Sally • (1953) • short story by Isaac Asimov
41 • Someday • (1956) • short story by Isaac Asimov
55 • Point of View • [Multivac] • (1975) • short story by Isaac Asimov
59 • Think! • (1977) • short story by Isaac Asimov
70 • True Love • (1977) • short story by Isaac Asimov
77 • Robot AL-76 Goes Astray • (1942) • short story by Isaac Asimov
93 • Victory Unintentional • (1942) • short story by Isaac Asimov
117 • Stranger in Paradise • (1974) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
151 • Light Verse • (1973) • short story by Isaac Asimov
157 • Segregationist • (1967) • short story by Isaac Asimov
164 • Robbie • (1940) • short story by Isaac Asimov (variant of Strange Playfellow)
191 • Let's Get Together • (1957) • short story by Isaac Asimov
211 • Mirror Image • [Elijah Bailey / R. Daneel Olivaw] • (1972) • short story by Isaac Asimov
231 • The Tercentenary Incident • (1976) • short story by Isaac Asimov
253 • First Law • [Mike Donovan] • (1956) • short story by Isaac Asimov
257 • Runaround • [Mike Donovan] • (1942) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
280 • Reason • [Mike Donovan] • (1941) • short story by Isaac Asimov
302 • Catch That Rabbit • [Mike Donovan] • (1944) • short story by Isaac Asimov
329 • Liar! • [Susan Calvin] • (1941) • short story by Isaac Asimov
350 • Satisfaction Guaranteed • [Susan Calvin] • (1951) • short story by Isaac Asimov
368 • Lenny • [Susan Calvin] • (1958) • short story by Isaac Asimov
385 • Galley Slave • [Susan Calvin] • (1957) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
427 • Little Lost Robot • [Susan Calvin] • (1947) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
459 • Risk • [Susan Calvin] • (1955) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
490 • Escape! • [Susan Calvin] • (1945) • short story by Isaac Asimov
518 • Evidence • [Susan Calvin] • (1946) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
546 • The Evitable Conflict • [Susan Calvin] • (1950) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
575 • Feminine Intuition • [Susan Calvin] • (1969) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
605 • ... That Thou Art Mindful of Him • (1974) • novelette by Isaac Asimov (variant of —That Thou Art Mindful of Him!)
635 • The Bicentennial Man • (1976) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
683 • A Last Word • (1982) • essay by Isaac Asimov
THE COMPLETE ROBOT is the ultimate collection of timeless, amazing and amusing robot stories from the greatest science fiction writer of all time, offering golden insights into robot thought processes. Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics were programmed into real computers thirty years ago at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - with surprising results. Readers of today still have many surprises in store...
Original tales by such science fiction luminaries as Orson Scott Card, Harry Turtledove, and Connie Willis, written in honor of Isaac Asimov's fiftieth anniversary in the genre, are set in one of his fictional universes.
Contains:
The Borders of Infinity
Brothers in Arms
Mirror Dance
Miles Naismith--in the person of his two alter-egos Admiral Naismith and Lieutenant Lord Vorkosigan--embarks on a perilous series of adventures, from the liberation of Barrayaran allies from a Cetagandan POW camp to the rescue of clone children scheduled to be murdered for their bodies.